ALL BLACKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 261, 4 November 1935, Page 15

ALL BLACKS.

LONDON COUNTIES BEATEN. DOUBLE-FIGURE victory. NO SCORE AT HALF-TIME. LONDON, November 3. The All Blacks on Saturday defeated the London Counties team by 11 points to nil. There was no score at half-time. Twentyfive thousand people watched a vigorous game at Twickenham. Ball and McKenzie were suffering from lee injuries and were replaced in the New Zealand team by Brown and Mahoney. The teams were:— NEW ZEALAND. Full-back: Solomon. Three-quarters: Hart, Mitchell, Brown. Five-eighths: Caugbey, Tindill. Half-back: Corner. Forwards: Hore, Hadley, Pepper, Reid, King, Manchester Wynyard, Mahoney. LONDON COUNTIES. Full-back: Jenkins. Three-quarters: Unwin, Hudson, Dick, Favell. Halves: Candler, Bok. Forwards: Gordon, John, Kendrew, Pratten, Reidy, Thom, Brook, Swayne.

The internationals in the side were:— Jenkins (Wales), Dick, Thom (Scotland), Kendrew, Brook, Swayne and Candler (England). . The All Blacks immediately forced the pace, -winning the majority of the scrums. Solomon's long touch-finders kept the Counties defending and only fierce tackling prevented the All Black wingers from scoring. Tindill failed in an attempt to drop a goal from ten yards out. The Counties pack, although sometimes pushed back several yards, frequently enabled the centres to set the wings in motion, but they were not sufficiently fast to evade the All Blacks' deadly tackling. Caughey, Hart and Mitchell were associated in a magnificent effort which nearly resulted in a try. Candler saved, but was injured in the tackle.

London Plays a Man Short. As Candler, the half-back, had not returned to the field upon the resumption of play in the second spell the Counties rearranged their team and played seven forwards. Nevertheless they pressed strongly, Dick nearly scoring with a long P Unmn once pierced the defence, but dropped the ball as he flung himself down on the line and the All Blacks kicked the ball dead. The All Blacks crowded on pressure and following up resulted in Pepper scoring a try which Corner did not convert. The Counties fought dourly, but the All Blacks' defence was always triumphant. Caughey seized ail opportunity through a defensive slip to score, Corner goaling. Near the call of time Mitchell slipped through, Corner failing to convert from an easy position. The game ended:— New Zealand 11 London Counties 0 Forwards Severely Criticised. The special correspondent of the United Press Association states that in spite of the margin in their victory the game was one of the poorest the New Zealanders have played, which is inexcusable and is difficult to understand. The All Blacks are certain to be branded an unreliable team. . . „ The Counties' backs were individually superior and took more chances to open up the game except in the final tea minutes, when the All Blacks were spectacular. Nevertheless the visitors' backs generally were lifeless, except Hart, ill spite of his being marked by lav ell, a determined tackier. Solomon amended a shaky beginning with great line-kicks. Once he gained sixty yards. Caughey. and Brown were on form and showed weak defence. Tindill was not the player seen at Newport. The forwards were loose, ragged and lethargic, and again displayed weakness in packing, which was believed to have been remedied. Reid, Hadley, Pepper and Hore were the most prominent. Reid played a great game in the loose and made many determined runs.

New Zealand's Pride Battered. The "Dispatch." regards the All Blacks display as unconvincing, although it admits that the team was handicapped due to injuries. The paper adds: "Although it defended grandly the team's weakness on attack disappointed the crowd. In spite of being a man short in the second half the Counties battered New Zealand s pride in a manner auguring well for the home sides in the coming internationals. The All Blacks did not depart from orthodoxy in their efforts to break through players whose tackling was as good as theirs." . The "Observer" points out that the All Blacks did not give evidence of planning scoring movements, but seemed to prefer snapping up opportunities from their opponents' mistakes.